Chandler Parsons

My first RCL draft is in the books! I may drop another league closer to the start of the season – we’ll see on that. [editor’s note – if you’re interested in joining an RCL league, you can take a spot in several leagues with openings here!] At any rate, I’m fairly happy with how this draft went. I had the 11th pick, so that was ugly, but I caught a break in the first round, and I don’t think I blew it too badly after that. You can be the judge though!

With my Top 200 Rankings now complete and listed in one easy-to-use list, it’s time to take a look at where I stand against the experts. Every year, I ignore ADP and other ranking sets when making my top 200 list, so I’m not sullied with crazy opinions – many of which you can read about here! I am unsullied, like Khaleesi’s war general dude! That guy is boss! Except for… Well, ya know…

Stemming from a comment, I was asked more-or-less “who are your guys this year?” And well, without really knowing ADPs or expert consensus, it was tough to answer. So for the first time since I’ve been helming the Razzball ship (helm to 108!), I decided to put an article together, highlighting where I deviate from the septum. Time for a nose job! If Ryan Anderson breaks his nose this year, his new nickname should be Ryno-plasty! Ok, focus JB, I know you’re pumped for basketball, but we have your calls to get to! Here’s where I’m against the grain according to other experts’ ranks on FantasyPros:

Say whaaaaaa?! It’s draft season?! Hell yeah, let’s start some early-drafting for hoops, who ISN’T bored of fantasy football already?! I keed, I keed, but fans of the Rams might be ready for a new sport already, amiright?!

If you’re jonesing for some early fantasy basketball action in the dopiest of dope fan leagues around, it’s time to join us an play in the 2016-17 Razzball Basketball RCL Leagues! 100% free, fun prizes, shame me in a Youtube video, and take a stab at joining the illustrious few who have made it into the RCL Hall of Fame. Is it narcissistic that I want to make it into my own site’s Hall of Fame?! Man, it would be awesome to have my name on there!

With that fantasy basketball fever enveloping us all, start up your very own new RCL league and set an early draft time (takes 2 minutes tops to launch a league) and challenge the masses for the overall RCL title. But if you only have 5 seconds, that’s fine too! Tons of leagues are open, so clickity click the link above and join an open league. Start up as many teams as you’d like to make a run at RCL infamy!

Enough tomfoolery! Wait, I mean JBfoolery, my name isn’t Tom! It’s time to start looking at how RCL drafts are playing out! We just had our first RCL draft last night in the inaugural RCL of the season. Here’s how my team came together:

We’re officially at a crossroads! We push all the way to the triple-digits and protrude into the late rounds. That’s a weird word, protrude. Sounds like a scene title from the Anchorman DVD when Will Ferrell complains about the pleats… Hey, I’ve written 100 ranks now, don’t act like you’re not impressed!

Get ready to be impressed by links! Here’s my Top-10, Top-25, Top-50 & Top-75 if you’re still catching up. Ranks, ranks, ranks! And with us now getting to the top 100, I’m sure we’re going to start seeing a lot of comments about guys that fell off the horse. I just double-checked myself looking at Yahoo’s ranks for the first time, and they have someone top-40 that I didn’t even rank yet! Lunacy… Here’s the Top 100 for the 2016-17 Fantasy Basketball Season:

50-75 always feels like that nebulous range where we get out of the sure things and start veering into the mess that is the sleeper-range, but don’t want to go too nuts for your guys. There’s just a little too much value on the table to reach for a potential superstar like Patrick Patterson! Hah, I keed, but you know what I mean.

Hopefully you’ve checked out my Top-10, Top-25 and Top-50 as we start getting into the late-middle rounds. Things are starting to get hairier in the comments too! But give me all your thoughts and quibbles you have, because I’m just one idiot that gets to pose my thoughts to the smart collective. Together as a think tank, Razzball Basketball is going to own the hoops-o-sphere! Just need to pay more attention when we play stupid Chris Liss in the Yahoo F&F Final… Ugh! Here’s the Top 75 for the 2016-17 Fantasy Basketball Season:

Ahhh, the early mid-rounds. This is where you can really start zagging when owners want you to zig, or zig when they wanna zag, or just be a total Zags homer and draft Adam Morrison for the hell of it! Stupid Jordan picks…

So here we start vaulting into some of the bolder calls, where hopefully you don’t say “stupid JB picks”… I finally start going an island with a few calls, particularly some saucy PF-types. Choo choo! “Know what I’m SAYIN’!!!” Uh oh, I am starting to go delirious with the rankings already… I feel like Russell Crowe in that forest outhouse with magazine clippings everywhere. “What did Oladipo say in Slam Magazine about playing with Westbrook?!” Enough foreplay! You can check out the Top-10 and Top-25 though some clickage right there, and here’s the Top 50 for the 2016-17 Fantasy Basketball Season:

The first round of the NBA Playoffs wrapped up on Sunday, with one awful Game 7 that I think everyone saw coming (I at least figured it was a blowout) and one fantastic Game 7 that seemed like a blowout early on, only to become a thriller. Paul George isn’t elite! Oh no, we’re STILL coming back to that one?!

While playoff hoops means very little to the fantasy discussion, there are some little nuggets (no, not Nate Robinson) that can help point us to some sneaky values in the subsequent season’s fantasy draft. I’m thinking of Draymond Green in the 13-14 playoffs going 11.9/8.3/2.9/1.7/1.7 before his breakout, Otto Porter, etc. But as we’ve progressed to a few games in the Second Round, there really ain’t that much going on anymore for fantasy purposes. To be completely honest – and I know it might be sacrosanct – I don’t watch a ton of playoff hoops, especially early. I’m not a fan of a team anymore, it’s not fantasy, and I admittedly get a little fatigued. It’s a long season! But ya know – overall – basketball is awesome! And there were a few takeaways that I think could be applicable to 16-17. Here’s a few interesting notes from NBA Playoffs so far:

Ranks are hard! I almost changed the title to “Way Too Much Of A Headache Ranks” since 2016-17 is gonna be ridiculous on draft day! So many guys with upside, so many injury question marks, free agency is gonna explode, we still have rookies to mix in here… And I don’t feel like I have as many “on a limb” calls as the past few seasons. Everything seems to be nebulous, murky, jiggly-like-Raymond-Felton-running, “I guess this guy seems about right” kind of ranks filling out the top 50. If anyone thinks they’re more excited than I am for free agency and the NBA Draft, they would be sorely mistaken! I need some clarity out here, dammit! Hopefully with some signings and scouting the rookies, I can find some more bold calls when we get to the “real” ranks in August. Or maybe I’m gun shy after the Wiggins fiasco. That will go down as one of the biggest international scandals in history… Dammit, eh! Here’s my Way Too Early Top 50 (1-10 can be read here, 11-25 here) for the 2016-17 Fantasy Basketball Season (with 1-50 in a complete list below):

So here we are in the semi-finals of the H2H playoffs! It feels like I was just writing sleeper posts for the season yesterday… Just for the record, I would like to pat myself on the back for calling Greg Monroe a bust. That was probably my most contentious bust call during the preseason, and it didn’t look like it would pan out at the start. The call would look even better if the Bucks had come to their senses earlier… Monroe just doesn’t fit that team. I should apologize to Rondo for the bust call, but a selfish player with those percentages, will always be a bust to me.

*Here’s where I need the opinions: What content would you like to see this basketball off-season? I’ll do some sleepers and busts again later on, but are there any other ideas? Possibly an alternative set of early rankings, individual player previews for the next season, or maybe something else! Leave your thoughts in the comments!*

It was an exceptional weekend of NBA action after the wayyyyyyy too long layoff for the break, highlighted by a huge upset by the Blazers. Is anyone else getting annoyed by that Damian Lillard commercial on the NBA App?! The one where he semi-raps, then says “thanks for the motivation” when asked about his haters? Well, it’s kinda fitting now, with that performance after that All-Star snubbery! Dame went Insame on the Warriors for a career-high 51 points, going 51/0/7/6/0, shooting 18-28 from the field. But the crazier numbers were 9 treys, and not a single TO. 6 steals and no turnovers?! That’s winning hoops right there! He followed it up with a huge night last night as well, going 24/4/4 through 3 quarters before grandpa JB hit his bedtime. Portland bested Golden State with a crushing 137-105 W in that Friday epic win, solidifying the Blazers as a playoff contender. No one thought they would even be close, and as Slim and I talked on the Pod, Stotts deserves a ton of cred and maybe some Coach of the Year consideration. If you told me in October the Blazers would make the playoffs, I woulda said you’re Insame! Here’s what else went down over an exciting return to hoops over the weekend, plus The 7 Ahead for week 17: